When renting portable restrooms, understanding where to place them is just as important as knowing how many to rent. Some renters assume they’ll just stick them all together away from everything else and call it a day. However, putting portable bathrooms in the wrong place can result in dissatisfied guests, unnecessarily long lines, safety risks, and even fines. So, where should porta potties go?
There’s a lot to consider when placing portable restrooms, including:
Legal Considerations
Ensure porta potties are not blocking emergency equipment access or fire hydrants. Preventing access for emergency, medical, and police personnel is not only dangerous, but illegal.
Secure all applicable local permits before placing units anywhere to avoid fines for placing portable restrooms in a public right of way or city owned property.
Comply with the Americans with Disability Act by providing handicapped accessible units as well as standard units. The number of ADA portable restrooms will vary based on the number of overall units being provided. Ask your portable toilet supplier how many they recommend renting for your event.
Ground and Air
Use nature to your advantage. Always place units on dry, level ground to avoid sinking or tipping over. Weigh the pros and cons of placing units on dirt or grass versus a paved surface. While it may be more convenient to place units on natural ground, weather can make their use less than ideal. If wet weather is expected, it can get very messy to have people walking on muddy ground. Additionally, tracking mud into and out of porta potties can make their floors slippery, increasing the likelihood of slips and falls.
Don’t place porta potties in high wind areas, or you risk having them blown over when heavy gusts occur. Instead, use buildings and trees as a wind block to provide some shelter.
Spacing
If porta potties will be supplementing on-site bathrooms, create space between the two options so that people will actually use both. Otherwise guests may just opt to wait for the permanent bathrooms, resulting in confusion and long lines.
For larger events consider spacing units out over multiple areas to decentralize use. This reduces lines and improves guest satisfaction because it makes porta potties more readily accessible across a wider area.
Truck Access
Providing adequate truck access is the most important consideration for porta potty placement because without access the units cannot be delivered, serviced, or removed. The trucks delivering porta potties need to be able to get in and maneuver units into place. Depending on the duration of the event, portable toilets may need to be serviced as well, which means that other rented items need to be strategically placed to allow continued access. This means positioning things like ticket kiosks, stages, tents, tables, chairs, food preparation equipment, and merchandise vending so that trucks can get through without issue. This accessibility must be maintained in inclement weather as well. Trucks will likely not be able to drive through mud or standing water to service the units, which means that a dry access path must be maintained at all times.
Quantity
Ensure the space you’re allotting for bathrooms will fit all the units you’re renting. This can get tricky when renting mixed units like luxury portable restroom trailers and porta potties. Don’t hesitate to ask your portable restroom service provider if the location you’ve selected will accommodate the bathrooms they’ll be delivering.
Comfort
Knowing where portable restrooms should go is more of an art than a science. Place bathrooms close enough to high traffic areas that people won’t have to travel far to get to them but don’t put them in a place where people will be offended by them. For instance, no one wants to see or smell bathrooms while they’re eating. Aim for this sweet spot to please guests.
Once you’ve answered the question “Where should porta potties go?” position them to allow privacy for people entering and exiting. It’s embarrassing for people to stand in line waiting for the bathroom in the middle of an event where everyone else can see them. This small consideration will set people at ease when using them. In wide open areas making a horseshoe or semi-circle formation
Security
People with ill intentions may vandalize and damage units when they’re not in use, resulting in a big mess to clean up and added fees from your portable toilet supplier. To avoid this, fence off or barricade access to bathrooms before and after the event. Lock up porta potty units and luxury portable restrooms overnight. If there’s event security, ensure that bathrooms will be patrolled as well.
Kerkstra Luxury Portable Restroom Service Inc. provides portable restroom service across Michigan and luxury restroom trailers for all of the states surrounding the Great Lakes. Take a look at our mobile restroom trailers and request a quote today!
